What's in store for Long Beach in 2013?

The year ahead will see some old stories return, as the city of Long Beach and area schools continue to face budget troubles.

Other long-running issues will come to an end, with officials expecting to finish the Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse by late summer.

Another story, a study of the Long Beach Breakwater, could see progress after hanging in limbo for years - if the federal government finds funds to pay for its part.

Here are some highlights of what to expect this year:

City red ink shrinks?

Long Beach financial analysts project a $10.9 million general fund deficit for 2014 when the budget for the next fiscal year is unveiled in August.

The city balanced a shortfall for the current year that was initially $17.3 million.

Council members eventually passed $12.9 million in reductions in September to public safety, libraries, parks and other services, using oil surplus money and other funds to bridge the difference.

The changes, including the restoration of youth after- school programming, were considered "one-time" expenditures - not included in the budget projection - that will need to be accounted for in the 2014 spending plan, said Long Beach Budget and Performance Management Bureau Director Dennis Strachota.

Despite that, Strachota found reason to be hopeful as Long Beach gets closer to a structural budget balance after a period that has resulted in more than $200 million in cuts since 2004.

"It is going in the right direction," Strachota said. "We're in that sort of period when things are even less predictable than they were in the bottom of the recession because we don't know if we're going to see if the economy stalls again because of what's happening in Washington."

Public pensions vote

One possible salve to some of Long Beach's budget wounds could come this month as the city's largest employee union votes on a pension reform agreement.

Officials with the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers said the 3,600-member union could vote to amend its contract as soon as next week.

According to details of the deal worked out between the IAM and City Manager Pat West's office, a combination of pension concessions and lowered benefits for new employees could save Long Beach millions of dollars.

An earlier, similar version of an agreement that was rejected by the IAM would have saved $3.9 million in the general fund for 2013 and $12.2 million across all funds.

If the union votes to accept the deal, the proposal will go to the City Council for review, perhaps late this month.

Most other city unions, including the police and firefighter associations, have already agreed to pension reforms. The police and firefighter associations' agreements, approved last year, were projected to save the city $100 million by 2022.

Mayor Bob Foster and other city officials have threatened to send to voters a measure to reduce nonpublic employee salaries to 2010 levels, if the IAM does not approve pension reforms.

Hotel workers wage law

Measure N, the voter- approved wage boost for certain Long Beach hotel workers, will be tested this year as hotels look for ways to circumvent the law's provisions.

More than 64.3 percent of Long Beach voters said yes to the union-sponsored pay hike, which, among other mandates, set a minimum wage of $13 per hour for employees at hotels of 100 or more rooms. The law took effect Dec. 21.

Dozens of Measure N supporters lobbied the City Council in early December to support the law after some hotels considered shrinking to get under the 100-room limit and others talked of cutting staff and hours. Some council members vowed to crack down on any evasions of the law.

The wage mandates of Measure N would be dropped if hotels agree to allow employees to unionize.

Long Beach city elections

Candidates for various Long Beach elected offices will begin marshaling support this year for elections to be held in 2014, when voters will decide on representatives for the City Council's odd-numbered districts, the mayor and other citywide officials.

No one has publicly announced campaigns for any of the offices. Mayor Bob Foster, who will be termed out in 2014, has not ruled out running again as a write-in candidate.

New class schedule?

Long Beach could see some major changes in education this year as schools work to improve learning in a time of difficult budget choices.

This month, the Long Beach Unified Board of Education will consider a controversial proposal to start high school an hour later in the 2013-2014 school year. High schools in the LBUSD currently start the day between 7:45 and 8 a.m. The proposal would push back the start time to 8:45 to 9 a.m. and school would then end an hour later at about 3:45 p.m.

District officials have said the plan will benefit students since research shows that teens perform better academically when they start school later.

The plan, however, has been been met with backlash from those who say the change will disrupt schedules for thousands of parents and teachers.

The board will discuss the proposal in its regular meeting Jan. 29 and is set to make a final decision on the matter in February.

In another change, Long Beach could see more small schools close this year as the district struggles to offset a $20 million budget hole.

Last month, the board voted to close Monroe K-8 in Lakewood as part of a round of $13million in savings. School officials will likely continue to make tough budget cuts in the coming months.

LBCC, CSULB challenges

Also faced with tough decisions, the Long Beach City College Board of Trustees this month is expected to vote on a plan to cut at least a dozen courses in the 2013-2014 year for savings of $2 million.

Currently, up to 17 courses face the chopping block, including auto mechanics, film, health and human services, photography, and radio/TV.

The cuts could include layoffs of about 10 full-time faculty. The college currently has about 200 academic programs and 308 full-time faculty.

With the passage of the Proposition 30, a November tax measure to fund education, Cal State University students narrowly avoided a planned $150 tuition increase this spring. But the 23-campus system is expected to continue to make tough choices as it faces record numbers of applications coupled with a shrinking budget.

The CSU planned to cut fall enrollment for thousands of students had Prop. 30 failed. The CSU now plans to maintain fall enrollment numbers, but the university system needs additional state funding to grow enrollment, officials have said.

Long Beach breakwater

A long-stagnant plan to get waves moving behind the Long Beach breakwater could find new and more urgent life sometime this year as the city negotiates with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to revise a plan to study the removal or modification of the 2.5-mile rock seawall.

Originally set at $8 million and four years, the study on potential changes to the breakwater, built in 1949 to protect Long Beach's port and coast, has faced delay after delay as the deficit-laden federal government struggled to fund its half of the study. The city has reserved $4 million in its Tidelands fund for its portion.

The Long Beach City Council in October agreed to renegotiate the plan to a "Three-Three-Three" model. The system places a three-year limit for the study, sets the price tag at no more than $3million and requires the creation of an informational binder no thicker than 3 inches. The timeline to execute a new agreement was placed at six to nine months by the city.

Gerald Desmond Bridge

Speaking of major projects, work will begin this year on a new $1 billion span to replace the Gerald Desmond Bridge.

In July, port officials approved a $649.5 million contract with a team of companies that will design and build the new 1.5-mile bridge.

Built in 1968, the Gerald Desmond Bridge is a major corridor connecting Terminal Island and the Long Beach (710) Freeway for the nation's trade system. Over time, however, the bridge has been slowly deteriorating as traffic volumes have increased.

Work on the project, done under a project labor agreement, is expected to be finished in 2016 and will create about 3,000 jobs annually during the four years of construction.

Long Beach Courthouse

One project that is expected to be completed this year, in September, is the new Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse in downtown Long Beach.

The project at Magnolia Avenue and Broadway replaces the more than 50-year-old downtown courthouse at 415 W. Ocean Blvd.

Grand Prix returns

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach returns April 19-21 for its 39th year.

The race, first held in 1975, is the longest-running street race in North America and winds almost 2 miles through the city's streets along coastal downtown.